Reiser

While Reiser4 doesn't still have any mainline Linux kernel ambitions until receiving any corporate backing, the notoriously known Linux file-system has been updated for Linux 3.16 compatibility and SSD discard support.

Over the weekend the Reiser4 file-system patches were updated for Linux 3.16.1/3.16.2 kernel support and additionally for presenting SSD discard support for the long-in-development Linux FS. This latest Reiser4 file-system work was done by Ivan Shapovalov and Edward Shishkin.

A recent announcement was made stating that the Reiser4 file system, successor to the ReiserFS, was ported to the 3.15 Linux kernel. Following the 2006 conviction and incarceration of the mastermind that original conceived this project (Hans Reiser), a few dedicated developers continued supporting this file system despite the odds stacked against them. In the last decade, the Linux kernel has seen newer file systems, most of which are integrated into the mainline kernel tree (i.e. btrfs, ext4, etc.). Reiser4 was rejected for inclusion some time back, and most of its developers moved on (one or more of which are currently working on btrfs).

While the Linux 3.16 kernel is now stable, a few days ago the Reiser4 file-system was finally ported to Linux 3.15.

Edward Shishkin released Reiser4 for the Linux 3.15.1 kernel last weekend. Besides being ported to the kernel interface changes for Linux 3.15, there's also two bug-fixes for the out-of-tree file-system. Most of the Reiser4 activity these days continues to just be porting to new kernel versions and bug-fixing. Edward is down to being one of the only main developers left and there's expected to be no effort to mainline the controversial file-system without the support of a major Linux ISV/IHV.

Ivan Shapovalov is back on track with his Reiser4 file-system contributions.

Shapovalov has been working on Reiser4 support for TRIM/Discard on SSDs. It's been some weeks since the last revision but the fourth version of the patches are now out there for this common file-system feature of being able to discard blocks by informing the solid-state drive about blocks that are no longer in use by the file-system. Most mainline Linux file-systems already support SSD discard, which is generally exposed via the discard mount option -- which is also the case for Reiser4.

Reiser4 now has support for different transaction models. Reiser4 can now change between transaction models with regard to a journalling mode, a write-anywhere / copy-on-write model, and a hybrid transaction model.

Reiser4 users now can choose a transaction model which is most suitable for their devices. This is very simple: just specify it by respective mount option. With the patch applied you will have 3 options.

h-online.com: IPFire, the hardened Linux distribution for firewall appliances, was recently updated to IPFire 2.11 Core update 61 and along with the enhancements, the developers announced that they are ending support for the Reiser4 filesystem

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